I was going through my Spyborgs materials and listening to a bunch of the songs that we didn’t include when we changed directions (but which are available on the disc as special features). This one was one of my favorites: Two Fisted Plumbing Commercial Jingle In the original concept for this game (when it was…
A cool article. Gamasutra – Behavioral Game Design.
I’ve been doing some research on reward systems in games for work. I found this article a long time ago, but it’s one I always keep coming back to, so I figured I’d post it here: http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/3085/behavioral_game_design.php The article is called “Behavioral Game Design.” The author breaks down rewards into various categories and shows how…
Day One DLC
Capcom Releases 5$ Multiplayer DLC for RE5 Capcom released a multiplayer mode as Downloadable Content for the recently released Resident Evil 5, and of course the intertubes are aflame with hate. Although I have no problems with it personally, I can understand the argument against it — by releasing the multiplayer patch so soon after…
Fallout 3
I love this game so damn much. The fact that I have to work for a living is pissing me off so much right now. I really just want to be home ALL DAY doing nothing but playing this game. Stupid life. I’ll post full impressions when I’ve had more time with it.
Designing FPS Multiplayer Maps – Part 2
Wow, it’s been a month. Things have been crazy at work lately, but they’re settling down a little now. As a result, I can finally put up the rest of the update I started more than 60 days ago (wow). What is not Fun in Multiplayer Incredibly long view distances This was covered a bit…
Designing FPS Multiplayer Maps – Part 1
An Overview: What is Fun About FPS Multiplayer? Choices Sid Meyer once said that “a game is a series of interesting choices” and nowhere in game design is this more true than Multiplayer Design. In a single player game, the designer has access to design tools to help guide the player, like linear progression, or…
Thoughts – Process VS Result
Every so often I pick up my copy of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, open it to a random page, and start reading. It’s quickly become one of my favorite books because usually when I do this style of random reading I notice something helpful that I didn’t notice before. This is usually…
I’m in Fortune Magazine!
Ok, well Sony gets the credit/blame for it, but still — at least it’s for something that I did: 101 Dumbest Moments in Business Ah, what a dumb year it was! Fortune chose the absolutely dumbest of the dumb that the gods of fate and humor delivered into our laps – and yours – this…
Beating Design Block (Level Design)
Every so often every person in a creative occupation gets stuck. It’s a common enough frustration, and one that I’ve felt the pain of on many occasions. Since I’ve been giving the problem a lot of thought recently, I thought I’d post some techniques I use to get past it. While this may not be…
Stealing Game Design… Properly (Part 2a)
Note from Mike in 2012: I wrote this article and its companion more than 4 years ago. In that time, my game design philosophy has evolved and changed quite a bit. While I think there are still good nuggets to pull out of these articles, I just want to say that they’re no longer as…